[SunkenCiv]

subtitle, "News in Brief: American Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting: Highlights from the annual physical anthropology meeting, Knoxville, April 10-13"

The Neandertal Enigma
by James Shreeve
in local libraries

"Frayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Pretty wild stuff. I watched that movie the other night "Cave of forgotten dreams" by Werner Herzog about the Chauvet cave in France where they got cave paintings 32,000 years old. Hard to believe because they look like they were done a month ago, but they said a landslide sealed the cave in for all that time. It was pretty mind blowing, you see the burnt sticks they used to draw on the walls still laying on the floor and hand prints. I mean look at this: Some guy 30,000 years before Christ blew red paint on his hand and it looks like it was done a day ago..

[mountainlion]

It’s difficult to estimate precisely how many genes in the Iceman or in living people had roots in Neandertals

Are we talking about a hundred yDNA genes or the full million or so? These people seem to confuse more than educate.

[martin_fierro]

Just sayin'.